Avatar: The Legend of Rand
by Katifer Dragonite
Summary: The Wheel of Time turns, and as it turns the Avatar is born and reborn in an endless cycle, time out of mind. In one Cycle, called the Earth Cycle by some, a new Avatar arises to bring balance to a troubled world.
1. Prologue 1: Lord of the Morning

A man strode through a shattered house, seeming to ignore the movement of the ground beneath his feet as he stepped. All around him lay the remnants of furniture and once-beautiful artworks, broken and tossed as if by a storm; and with them bodies, some disfigured beyond recognition, others with eyes closed as if they had simply lain down to sleep. The man overlooked these just as he did the shifting earth. Instead, catching sight of himself in a stand mirror that was miraculously undamaged, he suddenly laughed and began to call,

"Ilyena! Where are you, my love? You must come and see this!"

There was no response save the howling of the wind. Again and again, he cried, a crazed expression beginning to grow on his face as if his body knew what his mind did not. At his feet, the blonde-haired corpse of a woman stared up at him, accusing and full of sorrow.

As the man yelled for his wife, another came to the door, shaking his head over the state of the house and its inhabitants. He spoke:

"Look at you. Is this what has become of the greatest hero of an Age?"

The man at the mirror looked around, catching sight of the newcomer, and exclaimed,

"Where are you, Ilyena? We have a visitor! Have you bending, stranger? It is nearly time for the planting, and we can always use another set of hands."

The other man laughed. It was a harsh laugh, dark and without any true mirth.

"Stranger, you call me, but you know well who I am. You do not recognise me? I was once called Elan Morin Tedronai. But now…"

"Betrayer of Hope." It was a whisper, almost subconscious, and full of fear.

"You haven't forgotten everything, it seems. But too much. I must Heal you, so that you may know what you have done – what you have lost. Brace yourself, for my Healing is not as gentle as that of your water sisters."

Suddenly, the Betrayer grasped the man's head in his hands, causing the man to scream from an internal fire. His mind _burned. _But with it came clarity. His name was Lew Therin Telamon, Lord of the Morning. He was a bender of Fire and Air, Water and Earth. Warrior of Peace and Balance, Guardian of the Spirit World, husband and father and friend. He glanced down, eyes involuntarily drawn to the body at his feet. An anguished cry broke forth from his lips,

"Oh Fire, Ilyena! What have you done, Betrayer? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY WIFE?"

"Not me, Lews Therin. Not me. You know it to be true. Do you see what your resistance against Chaos has cost you?"

"NO! Forgive me, Ilyena! Fire forgive me, I did not know! How did I not know?"

Tears rolled down Lews Therin's face as he screamed his agony, his world crumbling before his eyes. Suddenly, a light began to grow behind his pressed eyelids, and they snapped open to release it. The Lord of the Morning spoke again, voice layered with all he was, all he had been.

"I deserve death."

At once, fire sprang up from the ground to surround him, dancing in anticipation. The winds picked up and began to howl through the house, tearing off the roof in their rage. All around, living things and corpses alike shrivelled and died as all the water was pulled out of them. The earth began to buck and rise, lava breaking forth to spill out onto the surface. The Betrayer raised his arms in protest,

"What are you doing? Don't you see? You have lost this time! We have fought this battle a thousand times, but this time you have lost!"

He stopped talking as a torrent of water took him in the chest, blasting him into a wall. But Lews Therin wasn't even watching him. He moved his arms and legs in a strange, disjointed dance, bending the elements to do his will. And underneath him, the lave rose from the earth, higher and higher, but the winds cooled and hardened it even as it flowed. Calling on all the power of the spirits and his own lives, Lews Therin created a mountain out of a flat plain. And, once he was finished, he drew in the last of his energy and released it in an explosion that blasted his house and everything around it into oblivion.

Elan Morin Tedronai stumbled out from behind a shield of fire in time to see the light in his eyes fade and Lews Therin himself crumple to the ground.


	2. Prologue 2: The High King

The High King Artur Paendrag Tanreall, called Hawkwing by many, lay sweating in his bed, eyes bright with fever. He tossed and turned, often crying out in delight or horror, depending on the whims of his wild dreams. He could sense people crowding around him, voices frantic.

"Highness, please," one said, seeming to whisper through a thick wad of fabric. "The water sisters are here, please accept Healing. It can still save your life."

"There is no point to this stubbornness," said another, calm and cold. "Will you let yourself die and your kingdom fall apart because you cannot overcome a silly superstition about weaving?"

"No!" he said, sounding almost lucid. "I will not accept your poison, _weaver_. You destroy everything you touch." His eyes rolled. "Tamika, bring me my sword! There are benders in the palace! Call the guards, warn my children! They must flee! SOMEONE BRING ME MY SWORD!"

The muffled voices grew alarmed, but Artur had stopped listening. His back arched as his delirious mind called forth full-blown panic, and he attempted to rise from the bed.

"Stay down Highness, please! You will hurt yourself!"

"There is no time for this! He must have Healing now, or he will die!"

"You heard him; he will not accept it! Would you force your weaving on an unwilling man?"

"He is a weaver himself – you cannot deny it! All the signs indicate it. Not just any weaver, but the greatest of them all." There was something wrong with that, with what she was saying, but he could not focus. It was all a filthy lie.

"Where is Luthair? Where is my son? He must be here; he must see the benders' treachery. My own subjects' treachery! It was you who betrayed me, Firane, you who let them into the palace!"

Someone gasped. "No, Highness, I would never betray you! I will send the water weavers away – I do not know who allowed them to enter."

Voices again, this time raised in argument. A door slammed. Was that Tamika with his sword? He vaguely remembered calling for her, though he did not know why. He was so tired. He sensed a presence in the room, and somehow knew that Amaline was there, standing beside Tamika. His lovely wives. One seemed to ask a question, and he shook his head.

"I cannot come, yet. The work is not done. The battle is still to be fought."

And with that, the King of the world from the Fire Nation in the west to Ba Sing Se in the East, from North Pole to South, expired, the life leaving his body and the light his eyes.


	3. Prologue 3: Watcher of the Waves

"He is born again! I feel him! The Avatar takes his first breath on the slope of the Serpent's Pass! He is coming! He is coming! He lies in the surf and cries like the cracking of the earth itself! The Avatar returns to bring Balance out of Chaos!"

Tamra Ospenya, Watcher of the Waves, Keeper of the Flame, Amyrlin Seat and Avatar, flinched as Gitara, her Keeper of the Chronicles and close friend for these many years, began to rave. She immediately chided herself for the reaction; where had her self-control gone? She knew: it had gone with her clothes and her authority and Gitara's sanity, and in their places had come the fear and chains and powerlessness and madness. And the pain. Not powerful, not blinding, but small and pervasive and constant; a faint memory of the tortures she had endured.

Still, Tamra thought, she may as well try to calm her friend in what must be her final hours. She quietly felt her way in the darkness until she could grasp Gitara's hand.

"It's alright, my friend, everything will be alright. I am here, not in Serpent's Pass, here in the Tower. Remember when we created the Tower? A hundred earth and waterweavers, dancing in unison to create the greatest building the world has ever seen. Do you remember the wonder we all felt that day?" Tamra kept talking as Gitara began to relax, not really worrying about what exactly she said. How could it matter?

Finally, the Keeper replied to her in a whisper.  
>"They didn't trust us, did they? They did not understand what we were doing for all weavers, for the world. How many of the girls we found would have become benders had we not found them? We brought stability out of the chaos."<p>

_Chaos… _A voice whispered in her mind, with another whispering _Balance… _close behind. Tamra had read that other Avatars had experienced spirit quests where they interacted with their past lives. She herself had never had one; just those voices, often seeming to argue, always seeming mad. She would give almost anything for accurate records of the lives of her predecessors, but none seemed to have survived. Why was that?

A creak from the door interrupted her musings. Light spilled in, almost blinding her as a number of people started entering the small chamber. As her eyes adjusted, she saw that they were all women, all wearing black masks that covered their features. Beside her, Gitara began hyperventilating, but Tamra compelled her body to stillness. They would not break her – they wouldn't! A new figure, taller than the rest and seeming to command their respect, entered. Surveying the chained women, she clicked her tongue.

"I hear that you have been most defiant, Tamra. That is going to end. Soon, you shall tell me everything you know. And not because I ask you to, either. No, you will tell me everything for one very simple reason; because then, and only then, will I let you die.

_I deserve death… _said one voice, and _I cannot go yet… _the other. Tamra strained against her bonds, trying to generate enough heat to melt the metal, to move enough to shift the earth. No use – the shackles were too tight.

"Who are you?" she asked the confident woman.

The woman smiled. "You know me. I am the figure of your childhood stories and your adult nightmares. Before, I was trapped as you are, but now I am free."

And, suddenly, Tamra knew. Her eyes widened.

"Semirhage."

And her world exploded in fire.


End file.
